What a trip! Five days in Portugal - sunny, warm, and relaxed - with a great friend, what more could you ask for? Portugal even won a Euro 2008 match while we were there - it was full of energy for the games, and you could hear "Portugale!" shouted everywhere that night!
Our friend Molly and I went to Cascais at the beginning of June to find some much-needed downtime on the beach. Cascais a resort town west of Lisbon. So we flew into Lisbon and took a train out to the town. The whole trip was amazing. We saw so much and yet it all felt so relaxed at the same time. Most of the time was spent checking out the various beaches in the area, but we also made our way into local towns and of course found some great food each night!
I’ll give you a rundown of our trip, but beware – there are lots of photos! I just couldn’t decide which ones to show you!!!
Here’s the town of Cascais, with all the boats into port.
The first full day, after spending the afternoon on a Cascais beach, we took a walk to Boca do Inferno (The Mouth of Hell), which is right along the coast. We saw a lighthouse along the way, but the highlight was definitely the Boca. That night we went into Lisbon for a late night of Fado. Fado is a style of music in Portugal that involves basically guitar and a woman singing with a deep, passionate and mournful voice. We loved it, but it doesn’t start until very late (about 10:30) – so we were out until the last train went back to Cascais – at 1:30am!
The next day we wanted to try out another beach just because there are so many in the area. All along the coast between Cascais and Lisbon are beaches, and even further west of Cascais are more. We heard that Tamariz, a beach in Estoril just east of Cascais was really good, so we headed there next. There were straw umbrellas to rent there, and being the pasty girls that we are (okay, mostly me) we took advantage of that! This was probably the most “Caribbean”-feeling beach we went to.
The next day we took a break from the beach and went to a town called Sintra, north of Cascais and set in from the coast. The main draws here are the Castle of the Moors and the Pena Palace. Pena is compared to Neueschwanstein in Bavaria (where we’re going next week) but Pena was built several decades before – I’ll have to let you know how it compares. Tiles are a main decoration in Portugal, and you can see them on buildings, as murals, as signs – everywhere. Since we went to see Fado in Lisbon already, I especially liked this set of tiles.
The 4km walk up the hill from the center of Sintra to the Palace was beautiful. We could see the Castle of the Moors several times peaking out from the trees. And when we got to the Palace, it was like a fairy tale. All the colors were so different from anything you would imagine a palace to be! Then we walked around the grounds, which included a hilltop with a great view towards the Palace, the Queen’s Fern Valley, the Fountain of Small Birds (a Fonte!), and a few Duck Houses in the ponds throughout the grounds. You could almost imagine the royalty walking through the gardens enjoying everything.
The first full day, after spending the afternoon on a Cascais beach, we took a walk to Boca do Inferno (The Mouth of Hell), which is right along the coast. We saw a lighthouse along the way, but the highlight was definitely the Boca. That night we went into Lisbon for a late night of Fado. Fado is a style of music in Portugal that involves basically guitar and a woman singing with a deep, passionate and mournful voice. We loved it, but it doesn’t start until very late (about 10:30) – so we were out until the last train went back to Cascais – at 1:30am!
The next day we wanted to try out another beach just because there are so many in the area. All along the coast between Cascais and Lisbon are beaches, and even further west of Cascais are more. We heard that Tamariz, a beach in Estoril just east of Cascais was really good, so we headed there next. There were straw umbrellas to rent there, and being the pasty girls that we are (okay, mostly me) we took advantage of that! This was probably the most “Caribbean”-feeling beach we went to.
The next day we took a break from the beach and went to a town called Sintra, north of Cascais and set in from the coast. The main draws here are the Castle of the Moors and the Pena Palace. Pena is compared to Neueschwanstein in Bavaria (where we’re going next week) but Pena was built several decades before – I’ll have to let you know how it compares. Tiles are a main decoration in Portugal, and you can see them on buildings, as murals, as signs – everywhere. Since we went to see Fado in Lisbon already, I especially liked this set of tiles.
The 4km walk up the hill from the center of Sintra to the Palace was beautiful. We could see the Castle of the Moors several times peaking out from the trees. And when we got to the Palace, it was like a fairy tale. All the colors were so different from anything you would imagine a palace to be! Then we walked around the grounds, which included a hilltop with a great view towards the Palace, the Queen’s Fern Valley, the Fountain of Small Birds (a Fonte!), and a few Duck Houses in the ponds throughout the grounds. You could almost imagine the royalty walking through the gardens enjoying everything.
We decided to try yet another beach the next day, and we had actually been trying to rent bikes to go to this beach since the first day! Guincho Beach is apparently one of the premier windsurfing beaches in the world, and there are lots of competitions there. We wanted to see it because it is supposed to be more secluded, rocky and scenic - and it definitely was! Not to mention the free bikes we could rent to get there! We loved it! The only downside – we thought it was a lot closer than the 8km it ended up being to get there! Oh well!
That evening, Molly was ready for a quiet evening, but I really wanted to see downtown Lisbon - so I went and explored some of the sights on my own. The last shot is of a famous café that serves “bica” which is an espresso-like drink, except thicker and stronger. Yum! By the way, Portuguese pastry….mmmm….
Along with the food theme, we couldn’t leave Portugal without trying sardines! On our last night, we shared them grilled. My parents (especially my dad) are probably fainting to think that I might have eaten these. But I have the proof! I took an “after” picture as well, but I’ll spare you that one…
Our last day happened to also be Portugal Day. This meant the beaches were ridiculously crowded because everyone had the day off. But we had fun soaking up our last rays in the sun anyway. Leaving was definitely very hard. I miss it already!
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